<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>If You Need Anyone by Kikuno_Ghirga</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23694016">If You Need Anyone</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kikuno_Ghirga/pseuds/Kikuno_Ghirga'>Kikuno_Ghirga</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>BLURRYFACE - Twenty One Pilots (Album), Trench - Twenty One Pilots (Album), Twenty One Pilots, Twenty One Pilots - Twenty One Pilots (Album)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Illusions, Josh Dun &amp; Tyler Joseph Friendship, No Smut, Other, Twenty One Pilots Reference</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 17:54:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,675</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23694016</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kikuno_Ghirga/pseuds/Kikuno_Ghirga</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>(Twenty one pilots inspired story) Jen is a 17-year-old girl who has been caught by the bishops of D.E.M.A. along with her friend, Alex, who lost their arms in a plane crash attempting to leave the city by their friend smuggling them out. At their first attempt of escaping, the duo finds a small area lit up by torches and go and investigate. they discover what looks to be the start of a rebellion and decide to follow them. Will the rebellion work and will Jen and the rest of the prisoners escape? or will the bishops and king capture them and execute them?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Twenty One Pilots</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>~5 years before the landing~<br/>
The vessel's engine hummed to life with the many innocent people held in captivity, unable to see anything around them due to it being pitch black in the ship. Only a few souls could remember the raid, and all the destruction done to their homes, and the last goodbyes. Only a few souls could remember the tear-streaked faces of families, friends, loved ones; and the looks of terror on their faces, wondering if they might be next. Only they could remember the shattered glass scattered everywhere, and the blood that was dripping from the razor-sharp shards. The rest of them couldn't remember the bishops knocking on their door, the hounds barking, and the pushing and shoving of families that lived with them, forcing them to hide, or if they were alone, the adrenaline and confused terror that shot through their bodies when they saw what was happening. They don't remember the bishops, with their red cloak, covering their faces, to have remained unknown to the world; a mystery. The grabbing, cutting, and harsh orders they gave to the people as they dragged them away, and soon being knocked out by the bishop's strong club. The people did not know their own names, so they came up with new ones. Ones that just didn't fit.<br/>
The ship started to pull away from the dock. Nobody knew where they were going to go. The bishops had told them that they were going to a "better place" but the ones conscious knew that wasn't true. Especially Tyler.<br/>
Tyler looked around, which he knew was no point because it was so dark in the wretched, compacted place. What he was really looking for was his friend, Josh, who was still unconscious, but alive. Tyler could smell that not everyone here was alive, due to the stench of death and dried up blood. He heard small muffles of cries and soft-spoken words, but nobody dared to scream. He found that out once he saw a very small light coming from the door at the top of the steps, and peering through was a person in a dark cloak, supposedly an overseer. If they heard you, even a whisper, they would kill you. They don't care if it's in front of the people you love, they don't want attention.<br/>
Josh slowly woke up, feeling a little dazed. He could sense that Tyler was close by because he felt his leg touch Tyler's foot. Tyler looked to where Josh was and smiled, feeling happy to know the only person he knew was on this ship was his best friend and the fact that he is alive.<br/>
"We weren't-" Tyler cuts Josh off just before anyone could really hear them.<br/>
The vessel grew colder, and people huddled together to try to grow warmer. The hum of the engine was very soft, and some people decided to sleep until one of the bishops woke them. "Sleepers", Tyler heard the bishops call them.<br/>
What happened, you may be asking. Well, it all started when an organization, DEMA (Depression, Existentialism, Materialism, Anxiety) formed, 9 bishops rule Dema, the leader being a man, or ghost, a mystery, named Blurryface. Dema has 9 tall towers, in which the 9 bishops stand. 100 years ago, when Dema was just getting on its feet and taking in prisoners, 21 people tried to escape and warn the public about Dema and their plans. The bishops caught them, and now the bodies lay at their same spots to this day. Nobody has tried to escape since then.<br/>
Josh looked toward Tyler, who was blankly staring at the floor. Josh felt relieved that his best friend was still alive. He then looked at the rest of the people, either dead, still unconscious, or sleeping, and he felt Tyler lay down, curled in a ball to try to keep warm. Josh curled next to him and huddled near him to keep the two of them warm. They both wondered who else Dema took captive, and why, and why nobody has said anything about the raids, they were so loud at night, how could the family members not have told anybody? Were they too afraid of getting caught? Or did they secretly support the bishops? Josh and Tyler slowly drifted off to sleep, still looking for the answers they would probably never find.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>~2 days before the landing, 6:00 A.M.~<br/>
Jen woke up to the sound of her alarm blaring to wake up. She felt groggy and didn't want to go to school. What she most dreaded was her history teacher talking about raids that happened in her town of Adelsberg, with no reason, but to take innocent people away. She has always wondered what the motive was for the bishops that made their mark. Was it their race? Ethnicity? Sexuality? Not even the teacher knew why.<br/>
She rolled around and shut her alarm off. She quickly got out of bed and walked to the kitchen, only to see her mother with her head in her hands, sobbing. Surprised, Jen walked toward her.<br/>
"What's wrong mother?" Jen asked.<br/>
"It's happening again..." The mother said through broken tears.<br/>
"What is?" Jen replied.<br/>
The mother motioned Jen to go to the window.<br/>
Looking out the window, Jen saw what looked like the recreation of Kristallnacht. Windows were shattered, and there was blood dripping from broken shards. There were bodies lying about, motionless. Dead. Panic shot through Jen as she suddenly remembered what her history teacher taught her.<br/>
The raids. The bodies. The death...<br/>
...The bishops.<br/>
Jen knew there would be no school today, and was scared her friends would be caught. She immediately pulled out her phone and texted them all.<br/>
"Guys, did you see what happened to the town?!? Are y'all okay??"<br/>
Only one person replied. It was her friend Alex.<br/>
•"Yeah, I'm okay. Are u?"•<br/>
"Yeah, just a little panicky. Do you know if anyone else is hurt?"<br/>
•"Almost all the houses except a few on my side are all broken in with blood, and there's a dead body across the street near the Dixie."•<br/>
The Dixie was the small corner store near Alex's house that the two loved to go to after school. They would walk together from school, which was only a mile from Jen's place and down the street from Alex's. They did that ever since they were in the 3rd grade. Now in 11th grade, They meet there every so often when times get rough.<br/>
"Is the Dixie broken into too?"<br/>
•"Well, yes and no. Yes because their roof is caved in, but not fully broken through. No windows were broken, and there's no blood or black paint."•<br/>
"Black paint? Why would there be black paint?"<br/>
•"Dema's signature, their territorial mark. So people know they should be feared and are close by."•<br/>
Whenever Dema's bishops were nearby, they spread black paint on EVERYTHING. Walls, benches, anything they came across. Their prisoners, black paint on their necks and arms. Their territory, controlled by Dema.<br/>
"Makes sense, like how a wolf marks its territory by peeing on something."<br/>
•"...yeah. Anyways, can you come over later?"•<br/>
"I can ask, but I doubt I'll be able to though."<br/>
•"Please try. I have a plan."•<br/>
"Plan?"<br/>
Alex never replied, so Jen guessed he was busy. She decided it would be best if she were to stay home, just in case a bishop nearby would see her, although it was still early in the morning. You never know when they will come out. Jen, still sleepy, decided to go back to bed.<br/>
Jen found herself thinking about Dema and the bishops as she fell asleep. She wondered if there was a way that she could stop them without getting caught. She then found herself thinking about Alex's plan, and what their plan was. Do they plan to invade Dema? Or kill the bishops? Jen couldn't go back to sleep, so she decided to flip through her social media. Nobody posted anything for a while.<br/>
She fell asleep, only to be snapped awake by crashing glass.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>~2 days before the landing, 7:00 AM~                                                                                                       Jen shot out of bed and bolted toward the kitchen. She saw the flowing cloak of red, a tall person, ghost, thing. That was a bishop. It had her mother in its grasp, choking her, while she looked to be lifeless.<br/>"STOP!!! LET HER GO!" She shrieked.<br/>      The bishop snapped its head to look at her. She heard the cracking bones of its neck as it turned to stare straight in her panicked, enraged eyes. The bishop let go of her mother and slowly crept towards Jen. Feeling confident, yet nervous, Jen stood her ground. She wasn't going to let some human, ghost, illusion, whatever the hell it was take her mother's life away from her.<br/>      The bishop slowly lifted its bony, dead hand toward her face. Jen swatted it away, making the bishop glare harder. it got closer. At this point, she could get a good, hard look at it.<br/>       It had no face, only a skull that looked to have been rotting for a long time. The cloak was a rose red, and over the skull was a clear film that made the face harder to see. It had black paint on it's hands and neck, and all over the arms. It also had a chain around its neck that she didn't notice before. It had a ruby, a crimson red ruby that glittered in the light. The ruby was shaped as a skull, but there was a hole in the head that almost connected to the eyes. <br/>       The bishop grabbed hold of Jen's arm. It was so strong, even for a skeleton with no muscles. Jen was startled, and tugged and tugged at her arm, desperately trying to free it of the bishop's mighty grasp. The bishop didn't even bat an eye at Jen's attempt to free herself. It was no use. The bishop had her in its grasp tighter, to the point her arm felt as if it were burning and she could see blood. The bishop carried her outside into the dawn of the day, when the sun was just rising. Jen heard a loud scream from indoors, and then silence.<br/>        Dead silence.<br/>   Nothing but the crunch of dead leaves and rocky pavement as her shoes walked a waltz away from home. It was as if she was dancing, a slow, deathful dance, guided by death itself. She realized why she felt this way, the bishop was trying to put her into a trance, to hypnotize her. She tried to snap out of it, and once she did she back-handed the bishop's sternum, sending it backwards, the unexpected force startling it. Jen looked around for a large stick, and found one near the woods in the side of her yard. She raced to the stick, a bishop trailing near behind her, and got there just in time to take a good swing at the bishop, sending it flying. She thanked herself for signing up for softball in 8th grade. Even though she hated it, she still thanked herself for knowing one of the strongest swings. <br/>         The bishop flew backwards, hitting a nearby tree, shaking the remainder of dead leaves from the branches. The chain around its neck flew off, obviously not put on correctly. Jen noticed the chain, with the ruby skull, and grabbed it and ran toward the backyard. She had to get away before the bishop knew what happened to the pendant and her.<br/>         Jen looked left and right, trying to figure out where to go next. Does she go back into the house and check on her mother? Or find police? Or go to Alex's house and tell them everything? She stopped running when she was well away from the house, and leaned on a tree full of bugs. She decided to take her mind off the situation for a little while and look at the bugs. She noticed on their heads was black paint. "Black paint? isn't that what the bishops were wearing? And their territorial mark?" She studied the bugs closer, and noticed they were going back to a small hole in the tree. Curious, Jen looked through the small hole.<br/>         She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She saw the inside of her house, still in broken pieces, and her mother on the floor, lifeless, engulfed in an ocean of her blood. There was a large hole in her middle, like someone had punched through her and created a perfect circle hole. Jen blinked a few times, trying to get the image out of her head, while testing if what she was seeing reality or not. When she opened her eyes again, her mother was gone and only pink dust remained where she was. Jen had enough. "What the fuck is going on?? First, history suddenly repeats itself, then some ghost-lookin ass breaks into my home, and now i'm on the run with its jewelry, lookin' at bugs with paint on them and my dead mother through a hole in the tree! I must be mad, Jesus tell me this is a dream goddamnit!!" She sat down on the ground and looked at the sky. Even for almost 8AM, it was pitch black, like midnight, but with no stars. She swore she could remember there being stars before she took off with the pendant, so what changed? She thought to herself that the pendant was magical, and then trashed the ridiculous thought and set off to find Alex's house.<br/>                                                                                                                                     ~<br/>          She found Alex's house with no problem, just had to cross a few trails and then walk the sidewalk for half a mile. Nothing out of the ordinary occured on her small journey, just an occasional squirrel or chipmunk scuttering by. <br/>          Jen knocked on the door. Unlike her house, their door didn't have any territorial mark. The door did have a different territorial mark, though. It smelled of rotten corpses and skunk. No matter how many times Alex and their family try to get rid of the stench, it stays and it stays strong.<br/>          Alex opened the door.<br/>       "Jen! What happened to you? You look like someone ate your bird."<br/>       "Haha, very funny. Can I come in? I need to talk to you about something."<br/>       "Not until you tell me what happened to you. Haha, I'm kidding! See my smile? That's how you know I'm just joking with you! Come in, would you like some tea?"<br/>    Jen situated herself in one of Alex's cozy kitchen chairs. Their chairs always had a blue or maroon pillow on them, for medical reasons.<br/>         Alex lived with their grandmother who has had 6 surgeries on her spine. She has always had back problems as a child, because she has a condition called Achondroplasia, which is a form of Dwarfism. She has a large head with a prominent forehead, a forward curvature of the lower spine, bowed legs and flat, short and broad feet. Because of her large head, it puts weight on her abnormally curved spine, not to mention she's also into lifting weights, and when she was 36, tore a few tendons and fractured vertebrae in the lumbar spine. She's had multiple surgeries to fix her spine, all which were successful. She still has back problems, now that she's gotten older.<br/>       "Alright, what happened to you? And what's with the black paint? Did you join Dema's group or something?" Alex asked.<br/>       "Black paint? What do you mean?"<br/>    Jen touched her neck, and looked at her hand. Her arms were covered in black paint, and the tips of her fingers had paint on them too. She asked for a wet paper towel.<br/>        "Of course..You alright?"<br/>        "Y-yeah, just get me the towel please."<br/>    Jen wiped her neck with the towel and ran to the bathroom mirror. She looked at herself and saw four lines of black, sticky paint on her neck and up her arms. She wiped with the towel again, only to see that the paint didn't even come off, no matter how hard she scrubbed. It was like she got a tattoo of it on, all over her neck and arms.<br/>          Alex peeked in, and gently opened the door wider. They saw a very worried and crying Jen, and gave her a hug, only to be pushed away.<br/>       "Don't come near me, you might be taken, too." Jen screeched.<br/>       "I'm just trying to help, Jen.." Alex said with a worry in their tone.<br/>       "Well, you can help by helping me figure out what to do and where to go." Jen retorted.<br/>   Alex looked around, and ran to the kitchen to grab something.<br/>       "Where do you think you're going, ass nugget?" Jen yelled.<br/>     Shortly after, Alex returned with a pad of paper and a pen.<br/>       "We're going to brainstorm some ideas, and I think I have a plan."<br/>       "What's your plan?" Jen asked.<br/>       "My grand-papa fought in World War 2, and was in the Air Force. He used to dogfight, and shot down over 20 enemy Japanese aerocrafts."<br/>       "Okay, and? Are you trying to say that we ask your pops for a fighter aeroplane?<br/>       "Well, sort of. He has a model life-sized aircraft that is almost ready to fly. If we can figure out what's wrong with the aerocraft, and find the right tools to fix 'er up, then maybe we can trail the bishops and look for Dema. Or, I can put a GPS tracker on you and you can get taken to Dema's headquarters, and I can trail you. How's that sound?"<br/>       "Um..er..That's...quite interesting, if we can pull it off. The only thing i'm worried about is how we're gonna get your pops to agree to fix the plane AND take it to some unknown place. And we don't even know what we're dealing with here, we could be dealing with devil's work for all we know. What if we crash? What if one of us dies? What if-"<br/>    Alex cut her off before she could say anything else.<br/>        "Oh, hush with the 'What ifs'. The only thing we need to worry about right now is who's next, how, and when. Let's focus on the present, rather than the future now." Alex said.<br/>        "O-okay, whatever you say, ass-nugget."<br/>    Alex wrote down his plan, and asked Jen if she had anything in mind. Jen said no, and thus making Alex throw down the pen and paper and throw his hands up in the air, like they were at a concert or on a roller-coaster.<br/>        "Alright! Let's get this going, shall we?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>~1 1/2 days before the landing~<br/>
The two walked out into the morning, where the sun was supposed to be peeking up from the mountain's grave, but there was no sun, only pitch black, like a vantablack. It's like if the world was swallowed by a black hole, just without the ripping effects. Alex's pops' house wasn't far from their house, only a couple of blocks away.<br/>
Their pop's lived in a valley, with land surrounding his small barn. Some cows and occasional hen made their home in his vast yard and sometimes an eagle would fly by. The barn was quite antique, built in the 1700s by his great great great grandfather. It had brick-red paint, which was slowly chipping away. The old wooden pillars that held the balcony were worn down from animals rubbing against it and termite infestations. Without looking at the barn’s flaws, it was beautiful and proudly held together through all the years. But the barn also held something more valuable. It held a beautiful, vintage Blériot XI that Alex’s pop’s constructed after the original plane by Raymond Saulnier in 1909.<br/>
Alex and Jen made their way to the old barn, walking along the gravel path dotted with bugs with black paint on them. Jen noticed this, making a mental note to herself to figure out how the paint got there when there were over a trillion bugs the bishops had to track down.<br/>
“How could they do this? Is this some other world? Universe? Or am I just living in an illusion or hallucination?” Jen thought long and hard about what was real and what wasn’t. She touched a tree along the path, and although it wasn’t a long feel, she noticed the bark on the tree felt different than normal bark on a tree. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but the bark seemed… smoother? But, yet, it was also rough, like sandpaper, with a really low grit, like as if rocks were plastered onto the sandpaper, it was bizarre. A bark that was smooth, yet rough at the same time? How could this be...<br/>
Alex seemed to notice Jen lost in her thoughts and decided to try to snap her back.<br/>
“Hey, Jen? Are you doing alright there? Wait, don’t move.”<br/>
“Wait, what do you-”<br/>
She was cut off by something whacking her in the side of the head, right where the temple is, knocking her unconscious. She was flown back, hitting another nearby tree that seemed to be alive somehow, because its branches were moving like propellers.<br/>
Alex looked around, the world around them seems to get darker and darker rapidly. Their thoughts whipped around quickly, unable to pinpoint anything that was happening around them. Their heart was going a million miles a beat, and time seemed to tick slower and slower. They looked around, or tried to, because time seemed to skip, the trees have enclosed them into a circle, their branches propelling wind into a whirl, making a tornado from the ground up.<br/>
Alex picked up Jen bridal style and looked around for an opening. The world became blurrier and blurrier, and it was becoming harder and harder to see. Alex knew he had to get out of there because the tornado was nearing them. They kicked off their shoe and lifted the shoe off of the ground with their toe, and mentally thanked themself that they didn’t wear any socks that day. Basically blind, they kicked the shoe into the unknown. They heard water splash.<br/>
What the- The thought was cut off by Jen. But, it didn’t really sound like her. It sounded more muffled, and, distorted? Snap.<br/>
~<br/>
The house shook with the rumbling of trees screaming. Jen’s mother woke up on the floor with pink ashes around her, floating and flying upwards toward the window, where the soundless wind whipped the shutters. She looked around her home, covered in black paint, shattered windows, and spilled coffee, dotted with jasper-colored blood. Do not return, and Look away, they see you, cover the walls in thin letters in black colored blood that was drying on the walls. She collapsed, feeling her body turn to dust, which she saw was pink, getting carried by the wind. Soon her lower body was gone, and bloody remains were left. Then turned to pink dust, so faint and delicate, only to be wisped away by the wind. Her torso. Her chest. Her neck. Her head. The last thing she processed was the ghost, head covered in a floral fabric, all black, and grey.<br/>
“M y   n a m e   i s   . . .”  Snap. </p><p>                           Jen looked through the hole in the tree...</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>~Unknown time, unknown place. The only thing that matters is that he is here.~</strong>
</p><p>
  <em>      A truce. That is what he wanted. But all he got was terror. Maybe he will find peace once again… </em>
</p><p>                                                                                                                <strong>~</strong></p><p>  “Alex, wake up! Wake up! Please!”</p><p>      Jen called out, but to receive no answer.</p><p>  “Alex, I have the plane! You need to help me, please!”</p><p>      Alex shot up, and their eyes darted to where the noise was. Nothing. They could hear, but where… Where was the sound?</p><p>  “Ah, there you are, pumpkin! Your friend here told me you want to fly my plane, eh?” A distorted pops said.</p><p>  “I...I can’t see...where are you? Pops? Jen?...”</p><p>  “Alex, we’re right here… you okay there?” Jen said in a soft voice.</p><p>      Alex touched their face, or, tried to, it wasn’t there. Nothing was there, his head was gone, and he felt cold liquid. Blood.</p><p>  “Alex… you doing alright?” The voice got lower, deeper, more distorted.</p><p>      Screaming, then silence. <em>Snap.</em></p><hr/><p>                                                                                       <strong>~1 ½ days until the landing~</strong></p><hr/><p>      The two arrived at the barn, feeling a sensation of Deja-Vu. Jen noticed a tree that looked rough, but smooth at the same time. Alex noticed this too and seemed to remember a feeling of dread, terror, and uncertainty.</p><p>  “Jen… have we been here before?” Alex said concerned.</p><p>  “You feel it too?” Jen replied</p><p>  “I don’t know, but I can faintly remember something happening to us here...Something with trees…"</p><p>      Jen looked at the trees again, taking in their features through her eyes. She couldn’t say what happened, but she vividly remembers getting hit by a branch, but the rest is gone.</p><p>  “Alex, I think we should forget about the trees and go find the plane. That should be our top priority right now, and not reminiscing over trees. Let’s go, the barn is only a few feet away anyway.”</p><p>  “Alrighty-o, whatever you say, cap’.”</p><p>      Jen looked at Alex, huffed, and nodded at their silly reply, in the irony of the situation they were in.</p><p>    The two headed to the barn and savored the old, antique scenery. The old paint, the smell of the animals and the dirt and grime on them, the clucking of hens, and everything you would normally see on a farm. Alex went to the door and lightly knocked, making sure not to startle their grandfather. Some time passed and they heard soft footsteps coming to the door. Alex shakily breathed out a breath they were unconsciously holding and squeezed their sweaty hand. Why were they so nervous? They always came and hung out with their grandpa, so why is this any different?</p><p>      The door opened up to an adorable old man, in the most stereotypical farmers outfit. Plaid shirt with jean suspenders, an old beret, round, circle glasses, and greyish green khakis. His face was so saggy and wrinkled, you could tell he smiled a lot, as his muscles barely held up all the sag and wrinkle, but still managing a cute little smile.</p><p>  “Well, hello there, pumpkin! You scared this old man, my bones creak and pop so much nowadays...Oh, and you brought your friend! I don’t remember her name… Sam?” He creaked.</p><p>  “It’s Jen, but nice to see you again!” She corrected the man who was now leaning on the railing for support.</p><p>  “Ah, sorry about that Jan! How about you two come inside and I’ll make you some tea, it’s such a nice day for you to stop by! And anyway, the sun is shining right in my eyes.”</p><p>    The two looked at each other with the same expression, <em>Is he out of his mind? It’s black outside!</em></p><p>      The two walked into the old, dusty barn, following the grandfather who seemed to be out of his mind. The old barn house reeked of old whiskey, turkey, and dirt. There was old and rotting wood that lined the doorway and a few cobwebs gathering in the corners. Jen noticed a cute spider looking at her, it was quite a big one too. Brown, kinda hairy, but nevertheless cute. Its eyes stared deep into her soul until she noticed it was dead. Unnerved, Jen walked along with Alex and their pops.</p><p>  “Here, pumpkin, have a seat! The chair doesn’t bite, hehehe!”</p><p>      The chairs and the kitchen seemed to be the only good looking part of the barn house. Even though the carpet was ratty and had stains everywhere, and the walls dotted with small mirrors and old paintings, it seemed a cozy place to call home.</p><p>    They sat in the chairs that had a nice seat cushion and eagerly waited to ask about the plane.</p><p>  “So, what brings you two here on this beautiful day? Did’ja want to see your old man try to ride ol’ Yankee? Or did’ja want to just talk?” He croaked as he started to boil the tea. Alex hesitated, trying to think of what to say.</p><p>  “Well, we have a few questions we wanted to ask you first before the big question,” Alex replied.</p><p>  “Ah, a few questions, eh? Shoot em’!” The old man said putting the teabags in the mugs with the warm water, passing spoons to the both of them.</p><p>     Alex looked at Jen and mentally asked her to help them. Jen seemed to understand.</p><p>  “Well, first off, let’s talk about what you see and what we see because we think you might be going out of your mind,” Jen said.</p><p>  “Out of my mind, you say? What, you’re gonna say it’s night when it’s clearly day? Or that my house is blue when clearly it’s brown?” The old man placed his mug down on the stain-ridden table and slowly sat down, making sure not to shake the table and spill the hot liquid.</p><p>  “Well, um, you got the first part right. We wanted to talk about that.” Jen nervously answered.</p><p>  “What we see is pitch black skies with no stars and no clouds, this is the first time we’ve encountered somebody who doesn’t experience what we’re experiencing,” Alex said with concern laced in his tone.</p><p>  “And with that, we’ve been seeing bugs with black paint on them, and houses were broken into, the Bishops of DEMA are here, in our small town! We even had a fever dream-like experience!” Jen commented.</p><p>
  <em>      Scutter scutter… can you hear me? </em>
</p><p>  “Well, that’s quite interesting… interesting indeed… have any of you had contact with a Bishop at all?” Alex’s pops furrowed his brow.</p><p>  “I have.” Jen shot up from her seat and looked around to make sure nobody was listening.</p><p>      <em>Clitter clatter...pitter patter…nobody can see me.</em></p><p>  “Jen, do you know what this means?” whispered pops.</p><p>      Jen looked at the man and heard a small clicking, a spider on a metal floor. She looked toward the sound, only to see Alex in shock looking at a bullet hole in the floor that seemed fresh.</p><p>  “Jen, we gotta get out of here, I saw something yellow and gold, with black paint on it, it’s not an ordinary bug!” Alex shrieked and splashed their tea where the hole lied dead center in a tile on the ground.</p><p>      The creature hissed and shot up from the hole and onto the ceiling. Alex shrieked in terror as the creature lunged toward them. Jen pushed Alex away and knocked the creature away with a metallic “Clang”. Jen noted that the creature had an exoskeleton made of some sort of metal, possibly an iron outer shell, and had an internal soft body, seeing the creature land on its back and seeing the green and yellow striped stomach that looked that of a caterpillar’s. The old man stood up, seemingly with no problem at all, and stepped toward the kitchen to grab a knife. Alex followed him and grabbed a handful of forks to use as spears. The old man tossed Jen a knife but she refused it and asked for another spoon. The old man rummaged through the utensils when the creature jumped from its back onto the wall and scuttered toward Jen. Alex ran towards Jen and pushed her aside with their free hand and threw a fork at the creature. They missed.</p><p>      <em>Critter critter… you cannot catch me… somebody you love will die.</em></p><p>  “Jen, what do we do?” Alex looked at Jen receiving the spoon from pops.</p><p>  “We fight until this thing goes down. Until it dies, we won’t give up.” Jen stated with the spoons in an X shape.</p><p>      The creature lunged at Jen and landed on her arm. She screamed, and Alex stabbed the creature in the middle, but with no luck. The bug popped off and scuttered on the ground toward pops. The world seemed to start to blur, and Alex heard pops fall to the floor, wrestling with the creature to get it off of his neck.</p><p>  “Pops!”</p><p>      <em>Crack, pop, snap, silence. </em></p><p>    ...It’s dark, a little too dark. Where are you?</p><p>      <em>Blood. </em></p><p>
  <em>      Hair. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>      The eyes. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>      The head. What was left of him is now gone. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>   Bang. </em>
</p><p>
  <strong>                                                                                                                   ~ </strong>
</p><p>  “Pops! Wake up! We need your plane!” Someone screamed.</p><p>  “Wait, there’s blood, a lot of blood..,” Another yelled.</p><p>  “Pops!”</p><p>      Someone screamed bloody murder. The world seemed to get less dark and blurry. Jen and Alex could faintly see a severed head come into focus with a black bullet hole between the eyes. The eyeballs on the floor also came into focus, and the golden-yellow creature was gone. Alex dropped to their knees, but they didn’t know what to feel; they felt too much, as if their emotions and thoughts were swirling like a hurricane in their mind and heart. It was as if anger and fear and unknowingness, heartbreak, and sadness were a tsunami, washing away all the other more hopeful thoughts they had.</p><p>      Jen came to their side and wept. The blood from the corpse was varying from fresh, bright red, crimson blood to dried, ruby-red blood. Alex crawled over to where the head was lying and picked it up and scooted to where the eyeballs rolled. They stared lifelessly at the wall. Blood started gushing from the ventricular veins in the neck, covering Alex’s white shirt and staining it a deep brown and red color.</p><p>  “Jen… what are we going to do?” Alex whispered, holding back tears.</p><p>  “We need to get the plane and find out who sent that thing and kill them. We need to rescue the hostages of this corrupt organization. We need to be heroes in this mission.” seethed Jen.</p><p>  “Okay… just, give me a moment alone, okay?” Alex replied through broken tears.</p><p>  “I understand. I’ll find the key and open the underground chamber to the plane and haul it out.”</p><p>  “Thank you…” Alex said and started to mourn the loss of his beloved grandfather.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>